by Peter Cohen - MacCentral
If you want to run Microsoft's new Vista operating system on a Mac
using Parallels Desktop for Mac, you're going to have to buy the
Enterprise or Ultimate editions. Parallels' Ben Rudolph recently
posted about the issue on the official Parallels Virtualization Blog.
With the release of Vista, Microsoft has reworded its End User License
Agreement (EULA) to forbid the use of Vista Home Basic and Home
Premium Editions with virtualization products like Parallels and
VMware. Macworld has confirmed the information with a Microsoft
spokesperson.
'USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise
emulated) hardware system,' reads the EULA.
That doesn't preclude Vista Home editions from being installed on Macs
running Boot Camp, however, since Boot Camp isn't a virtualization or
emulation technology; instead, it makes Windows run natively on the
Mac. For now, however, Boot Camp is still in beta development, and still
officially works only with Windows XP.
Meanwhile, the EULA included with Vista Enterprise and Ultimate
editions allows that operating system software to be installed on
virtual or emulated hardware systems.
In short, this means that if you're a user and you want to run Vista
virtually, you MUST buy the highest end versions of Vista, or you'll
be in violation of the Microsoft EULA, writes Rudolph.
Most customers using this technology are primarily business users
addressing application compatibility needs, or technology enthusiasts,
said a Microsoft spokesperson. So virtualization will be supported in
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate and Vista Business SKUs. Home users
have rarely requested virtualization and so it will not be supported
in Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium SKUs.
The issue for users is price: Microsoft sells its Home editions of Vista
for $199 or $239, while Business and Ultimate editions cost $299 and
$399 respectively.
To me, this strategy could hold back users who embrace cutting-edge
technologies like virtualization, which means they won't upgrade to
Vista. This means that Microsoft has effectively lost an upgrade
customer (in the case of Windows PCs) or an entirely new customer (for
Mac and Linux users), writes Rudolph.
Copyright 2007 Mac Publishing LLC
Peter Cohen (maccentral@telecom-digest.org)